Split Down The Middle
by xlittleminxx
Summary: After Peter meets NikiJessica, he starts acting differently around Claire. It's like he's fighting to control something dangerous inside of him and it scares her.


**Title: Split Down the Middle  
Rating: PG-13  
Spoilers: Spoilers for entire season. (mainly Five Years Gone and Season Finale)  
Warnings: AU. Set after season finale. They are related.  
Summary: After Peter meets Niki/Jessica, he starts acting differently around Claire. It's like he's fighting to control something dangerous inside of him and it scares her.  
**

Five years after the bomb had almost exploded in New York, Claire Bennet found herself abandoned by the family she never really wanted to have. The family she'd spent all of her resources looking for, once upon a time; the family that had forever bonded her and Peter Petrelli through blood.

Petrelli blood; blood that flowed through her veins like it did in Peter's.

The same blood that made it _so_ inappropriate to have (day) dreams of him.

Because Claire couldn't stop her - attraction, crush, love - whatever it was, for her uncle.

Her hero.

Her Peter.

When Nathan Petrelli became President of the United States, it was no shocker to Claire when Angela Petrelli announced their immediate move to the White House. Naturally – like Angela wanted most of the time – Claire was not to join them. It would be bad publicity for Nathan if is illegitimate daughter came along.

Or that was the reason they gave her, anyways.

Claire guessed she should have seen it coming; Peter wasn't there to protect her anymore. He had survived his own exploding self by some miracle. However, Claire had only seen him once after that.

The last time she saw him it was a goodbye.

Peter hadn't been back more than a week – and then he was gone.

In the end, he hadn't exploded New York. She couldn't say the same for her own heart.

Because try and deny it as she might, Claire understood that she was in love with him.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Peter Petrelli moved around the world a lot after the almost explosion. It was a relaxing way to clear his mind of everything that had troubled him for so long. But after five years he found it somewhat tiresome and over rated. He knew it was time to go home.

Though Peter would never admit it, he had started moving because of Claire – because of his very un-uncle feelings towards her.

Because it was wrong; because he couldn't stand watching her and being unable to do anything about his feelings.

Because no matter how much he fought against it, he was in love with his niece.

Every time he thought about that, he damned the Petrelli blood that flows through their veins.

oOoOoOoOoOo

His last stop on his way back home was Las Vegas – home to Niki Sanders who he met one night in her nightclub. Peter had felt no side-effects of the meeting – no usual feeling he had whenever mimicking a power. So Peter believed there was no power to mimic and left a few days later.

The day after he left, Jessica – Niki's alter ego - made her reappearance again.

And Peter Petrelli had gained one power he had not known about.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Peter knew nobody would be in the house – they were all off in D.C. having a ball of a time. He wondered what his mother would be saying to the press about him.

Off finding himself?

Trying to save the world?

To tell the truth he had absolutely no idea what his mother would say.

Peter only let himself wonder what Claire was doing for a second. He imagined her sitting in her room in the White House, paging through a magazine as she waited to speak to Angela about her daily activities.

All in all – he saw her being happy.

The house was quiet except for the sound of his footsteps echoing in the hallways. But still Peter felt uneasy. There was a sense of warmth that filled the rooms – something he had not expected in an empty house.

Peter made his way through the house, up the stairs and toward his bedroom – intending to switch clothes. The sight in front of him stopped him in his tracks.

Claire sat on his bed, staring out of the window into the great unknown. Her hair tumbled around her face, creating a barrier between her eyes and his.

Finally she turned away from the window, only to lay eyes on him. Her expression changed rapidly from one of amazement to one of complete bliss as she jumped up and embraced him.

Peter's arms tightened around her waist, pulling her flush against him as he placed his face in her hair and breathed in everything that was Claire. Peter placed a quick kiss on her head before he bent his head and whispered huskily.

"I missed you."

Claire was about to reply when Peter pulled away – as if she had burnt him – and he shook his head. She watched him, worried now, as he mumbled an apology and nearly ran out of the room. She didn't understand what had happened. Neither did Peter.

He stood in the bathroom, nearly drowning himself with all the water he had used to wash his face with. Staring up at his reflection he sighed and wondered what the hell was going on with him. Something inside of him had snapped and he had so badly wanted to kiss her – even worse than before. Even worse…he almost had! He wondered if he was going crazy.

His reflection in the mirror taunted him with a devilish smirk.

That's when Peter realized something.

He hadn't been smiling in the first place.

oOoOoOoOoOo

So the days went by and Claire grew more worried by the second. Peter seemed so distant at times. His face was set in such a way that it reminded Claire of the times before the explosion – when Peter had fought a mental battle against himself; against right and wrong.

Days passed when he wouldn't even look at her let alone be in the same room as she was.

But other time she saw the same Peter she knew and loved. He was there – hidden deeply beneath the other Peter that had somehow started to show more and more.

It scared Claire. It terrified her – not knowing what was going on with her love.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Peter watched her openly sometimes – something he usually wouldn't do. It took him a long time to fight down the urge to kiss her; the same urge that seemed to grow stronger everyday. He figured out that there was something wrong with him. His reflection never mirrored his actions anymore and Peter began to wonder if his reflection was the reason why all of was going on.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" he begged his reflection in the mirror one day. His reflection smiled and drew his hand through his hair.

"Somebody has to do something about your pathetic life. Poor, pitiful Peter; he wants the world but he's too scared to fight for it. Too scared to fight for _Claire_. Well, I'm not. I'd kill if it meant having her." Peter stared, utterly taken aback by the sudden turn of events.

His reflection was dangerous - especially to Claire - and he knew he would have to fight his alter-ego from ever coming to the surface.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Over time it got extremely hard to keep his alter-ego in check – and so Peter became more agitated with himself. There seemed to be one purpose in the alter ego's life – to have Claire. And in truth, it was Peter's dream to have her. But dreams should stay just that: dreams.

He tried staying away from her.

Really he did.

But Claire (and maybe even his love for her) made that impossible.

Which is why his reflection started fighting harder than ever and Peter's urges to kiss Claire became much more violent.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Peter awoke one morning to find a scar that stretched over his face. His breath was rancid with the stench of liquor – Alter-Peter's doing. He tries to clean himself up, tries to force the wound to heal but it doesn't. Peter could hear his alter ego laughing at him but he refused to listen to his mediocre sideline remarks.

The previous night, when Claire had been out with friends, he had let his alter-ego take over; let him run rampage with his body. Let him slowly kill him.

The result?

A lot of drinking, smoking and for some or other reason the scar which made him look more a rebel than he used to.

Peter knew it was hard to keep this new side of him under the radar. He even realized what the alter ego is trying to do.

Mohinder had explained it to him on the phone a few days earlier. The alter-ego was Peter's rebellious side; the side of him that had been suppressed throughout the years - by both the Petrelli family and Peter's goodness. The side that now wanted out.

Claire came home to find Peter in the study, the scar on his face and his hair sleeked back. She didn't realize that it was the Alter-Peter. She didn't even know about him, after all. But she realized it's unlike Peter – the scar, the hair, the drinking and even more - the way he keeps looking at her.

"Peter?" she asks slowly, testing the grounds.

"Yeah, babe?" his voice is different she realizes. It's filled with an edgy, husky tone and she swears she can see him eyeing her. It thrills her and scares her at the same time.

"What happened to your face?" Claire asks worriedly. Peter smiled as he rolled a pen between his fingers

"Oh, that? Wanted to do it for the thrill; y'know, that big adrenalin rush." He laughed and Claire shivered.

"Hey, babe, let's go break into a bank or something! We can get that blood _really_ pumping." Peter smirked. Something about the way he's looking at her suggests that he wants to do something else besides rob a bank with her.

Claire shook her head. "No."

She turned away from him and almost ran out of the door.

The only thing normal-Peter could do was watch the whole scene play out and cry against the restraints his alter ego had placed on him.

oOoOoOoOoOo

It was almost two months later when Peter finally gave in to his darker side. He stalked over to where Claire was sitting and used his strength to pull her up and flush against himself. Claire shivered but felt the anticipation of what was about to come. He leaned forward and roughly placed his mouth on hers, devouring her with every movement of his lips against hers.

It's only when they pull away from each other that Peter and Claire both realize that it was the real Peter kissing her all along.

Claire stared at him as he placed his forehead against hers. The scar closes by itself and Peter takes a deep breath as alter-ego Peter gave one last smirk and disappeared.

"Peter?" her soft voice called out and Peter glanced at her with as much love as he could muster.

"I've loved you forever and a day, Claire Bennet, and I'm sorry it took so long for me to show you." His voice was sincere and Claire smiled as she leaned into his lips.

"I love you too."

The kiss that followed the declaration was sweeter, softer and more about love than the first one was. Afterwards they stayed in each other's embrace while they decided it was better to hide their new-found relationship. They talked for hours about it – about the consequences – and yet neither seemed to care.

They were in love. Who could blame them?

"Peter?"

"Yeah?"

"What was going on with you these past few months?"

Silence.

"I needed a jackass to get me to realize how stupid I was for not telling you that I love you." Peter smiled and though he thought he was just imagining it, he could almost hear alter-ego Peter choking back a retort. Claire giggled as she snuggled closer to his chest.

"Then I really need to thank that jackass."

"Oh don't worry; he knows."

And right at that moment, Peter would give his whole life just to be able to thanks Niki Sanders for her power.

End.


End file.
